"Here is how it is supposed to go: "How may I help you, dearest guest who has only just arrived, for I can see you are trying to find any shade near the pool and yes, it is 34 degrees so I can imagine you would be struggling in this heat?"
Here's how it actually went: "You can't put a sunbed here." And walk off. Followed by "You can't move that sunbed." And walk off. Followed by "I'll move the umbrella." And walk off. Then "Don't disturb the holiday-makers; ask me." And walk off. Come back and remonstrate with the newly arrived guests. Then walk off. Then come back and say "Look; you've got what you wanted. What's your problem?" And walk off again.
Then this is how it is supposed to go following a complaint to the manager about the above rudeness. "I'm so sorry you've had that experience. I will certainly speak to X. May I offer you a complimentary glass of wine?"
Here's how it actually went: "I've looked at the CCTV footage, which only shows movement and there's no sound to hear what was being said, but nevertheless, I don't believe X was rude to you at all. You're lying."
And actually it was much worse than that; so much so that other guests spoke to us and were appalled by X's rudeness.
Shame, because actually, it's a nice little hotel for a three-star. But requires a change in management and the staff to go on a basic hospitality course (except the cleaners and the ladies who worked the kitchens at breakfast, who were very warm and friendly).
Other issues:
We were told the air conditioner leaking water onto the marble floor was our fault for setting it too low, when it was at the same setting as the room next door had it, with no leaking problems (pretty rude again). Eventually sent a technician to fix it (surprising given it was user error and not the machine at all!), who didn't fix it. Here's tip: IF AN AIR CONDITIONING UNIT IS LEAKING WATER ONTO A MARBLE FLOOR, DESPITE IT BEING SET AT A TEMPERATURE ALLOWED (AND TESTED FOR) BY THE MANUFACTURER, IT'S NOT WORKING AS IT SHOULD, I.E. IT'S BROKEN. Ironic really; the faulty air conditioning unit leaked water all over the floor for 7 days, but the manager chose to send a follow-up email to us after we checked out complaining that we had left a sink tap running, which we clearly did totally on purpose just to stick two fingers up to the environmental lobby and not for any other reason they could discern, like perhaps a bit of carelessness by a teenager or an octogenarian.
On being told that the room door wasn't locking properly on exit, the woman in reception actually grunted, looked disbelievingly, finally dragged her weary body away from her air conditioning and her iPhone, took 7 minutes (I counted) to figure out why the door wasn't locking properly, then gave us a "See; that's all it takes!" look before huffing off back to her air conditioned office. Here's another tip: IF YOU HAVE TO FIDDLE WITH THE LOCKING MECHANISM IN ORDER FOR THE DOOR TO LOCK, IT'S NOT WORKING AS IT SHOULD, I.E. IT'S BROKEN.
The shower, no matter how you tried to control it, was either scalding hot or freezing cold and water pressure was terrible (we had two rooms and both had the same issues). Here's another tip: having to spend 10 minutes trying to get the shower to a usable temperature only to give up and decide that testes-retraction is better that skin-peeling is not an efficient use of water resources, so perhaps consider investing a little in your plumbing systems and then you could apply for the Eco Award you seem to want very badly, judging by the fuss about the tap (see below).
For no reason at all, the hairdryer stopped working, then a few minutes later was fine again only to conk out again a minute later.
The lights for helping you see your way up the external stairs at night did not work. Here a tip: LIGHTS FOR A STAIRCASE ARE PRETTY CRITICAL WHEN IT'S DARK; IF THEY'RE NOT WORKING, IT'S A HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUE AND WORSE POTENTIALLY, A LITIGATOR'S HEAVEN IF THERE WAS AN ACCIDENT. As a senior figure in the Balearics hospitality sector, like the manager of the hotel clearly is with all her awards for excellent customer service that aren’t hanging anywhere in the lobby, she might have thought to get that sorted as a matter of priority.
Also, here's a tip for the hotel: If you don't want people to smoke on the balconies, even though it's "allowed" according to the house rules, then don't provide ashtrays on the balconies. Oh and while we are about it, the balcony area is part of the hire, so should be cleaned as well as the inside of the room.
All in all a massive disappointment. Think it would have been good if not for the award-winning-in-their-own-minds front-of-house staff being so chippy and rude. Great place if you like being treated like you don't matter, but I get enough of that at work, thank you."
